When Harriet Vane attends her Oxford reunion—the "Gaudy"—the academic setting is haunted by such bizarre pranks as scrawled obscenities, burnt effigies, and poison pen letters that are consistently ghastly and frequently threaten murder—but always perfectly worded. Harriet finds herself in the midst of a nightmare, with only the tiniest shreds of clues to challenge her powers of detection—as well as those of Lord Peter Wimsey—in what The Spectator refers to as "a royal performance." Called "one of the greatest mystery story writers of this century" by the Los Angeles Times, Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) was a British novelist, essayist, and scholar best known for her Lord Peter Wimsey tales, which have been nominated for an Anthony Award for Best Series of the Century. At the beginning of the series in 1923, the monocled aristocrat is a carefree war hero with loads of money and free time to spend on amateur sleuthing; by the time the series ends Lord Peter has developed into a man of conscience and moral responsibility, though the series never loses its wit. Accompanied in many of his adventures by mystery writer Harriet Vane—they meet in Strong Poison and marry in Busman's Honeymoon—Lord Peter is, as Sayers wrote, "the romantic soul at war with a realistic brain." This handsome paperback edition includes an introduction by Elizabeth George, creator of another, very different aristocratic detective, Inspector Thomas Lynley.

"Gaudy Night stands out even among Miss Sayers's novels. And Miss Sayers has long stood in a class by herself."—Times Literary Supplement (London)